[meteorite-list] Hammer fall term

From: Regine P. <fips_bruno_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2012 18:08:29 +0100 (BST)
Message-ID: <1339520909.41636.YahooMailNeo_at_web132105.mail.ird.yahoo.com>

Sorry to come up with the subject
matter again, but I keep thinking about this every now and then and
would like to add my two cents on it this time.

I agree with the "hammer fall" term being misleading, and so far haven't met anyone who is very fond of it
except those who actually see it as a market opportunity. On the flip
side I have met a few who were seriously confused by the term: The
Sylacauga police chief for example, who sent me a link to an Ebay
auction, thinking the speck pictured was a piece of the rock which hit
Mrs. Hodges (it was instead part of the one found by Julius McKinney,
which has an interesting story by itself and, as far as I'm concerned,
deserves more attention than a footnote).

I'm quite keen on the stories
behind hammer stones and the idea that something ancient from out there
is hitting something random and creates a connection between the sublime and the mundane. "Hammer fall" on the other hand is simply a sales term which does the opposite of creating historical awareness: It completely overshadows all the other aspects (historical or other) of a meteorite
shower. I'd find it fairly irritating if anyone used the term "L'Aigle
hammer fall", because one of the pieces (presumably) hit a man on the
arm. A more recent example is Sutter's Mill - is it an important fall
because one of the rocks struck a garage door? I feel these falls
deserve different attributes in their headline, something which is
perhaps attributable to all or most of the specimens of the fall, such
as the historic significance, the classification, characteristics or man hours included in searching for the pieces in the strewn field. As
mentioned before, I'm not referring to the actual stone which hit
something, as the
designation is significant in identifying the rock as being the single
piece falling on something man made.

Cheers,
Regine
Received on Tue 12 Jun 2012 01:08:29 PM PDT